Brother jailed for role in double murder

12 July 2004

AMSTERDAM — The Amsterdam Appeals Court sentenced a man on Monday to two years in jail, three months of which were suspended, for involvement in the murder of 19-year-old Marion van Buuren and her almost one-year-old daughter Romy.

The defendant, Ozgur O., had previously been acquitted by Alkmaar Court in May 2003. The prosecution appealed the ruling and demanded a four-year jail term in the appeal hearing.

The bodies of Marion and Romy were found in mid-2002 buried in dunes near the North Holland town of Bergen. The remains were found based on a tip from the defendant.

O.’s brother, Okan O., was considered responsible for the murders of his former wife Marion and their daughter Romy in 1997. But he was never convicted and died of cancer in the Scheveningen prison in 1998.

Ozgur told police that his older brother had indicated about a month after the disappearance of the victims were their bodies had been buried.

But he reportedly told the Van Buuren family he was present when Ozkur killed Romy. Marion was allegedly already dead, newspaper De Telegraaf reported.

Ozgur was convicted on Monday of acting as an accessory to the murders, but Amsterdam Appeals Court said it took into consideration that he had voluntarily gone to the Van Buuren family to help them find the bodies of Marion and Romy.

Ozgur’s lawyer, Gerard Hamer, said the ruling was astonishing and that the evidence was wafer-thin. Hamer said he will lodge an appeal for cassation.

Subject: Dutch news